阅读理解 Passage3 TheUKismadeupoffourcountries---England,Scotland,WalesandNorthernIreland---whichhavewidelydifferingculturesandlanguages. WaleswasthefirstcountrytofallunderEnglishcontrol,inthelate16th-century.TheWelshwereneveractuallydefeatedbytheEnglish.Instead,theyrealizedthatunitywiththeirbiggerneighborwastheonlywaytoendthealmostcontinuousstateofwarthatexistedbetweenthetwocountries.Sinceunity,EnglandandWaleshavehad thesamesystemsoflaw,educationandgovernment. ThesituationbetweenScotlandandEnglandwasverydifficult.Theyfoughtfiercewarsforcenturies,eachinvadingeachother,wheneverthesituationseemedintheirfavor.Thiscametoanendinthe17th-centurywhenKingJamesVIofScotlandinheritedthethroneofEngland,afterQueenElizabethIdiedwithoutchildren.In1707,ScotlandandEnglandwerebroughttogetherinanActofunion.ThistookawaymuchoftheScots’controloftheirownaffairs,buttheykepttheirownsystemsoflawandeducation. Forthethreecountries,unionresultedinpeace.ButEngland’soccupationofIrelandhasalwaysbeencharacterizedbyviolence.IrelandwasslowlybroughtunderEnglishcontrolinthe16th-and17th-centuries.Butitretaineditsowngovernmentuntil1801,whenitwasbroughttogetherwiththeParliamentatWestminster. However,mostofitspeoplespokeGaelicratherthanEnglishandtheyremainedfaithfulCatholics,whiletheestablishedreligioninEnglandwasProtestantism.By1920,BritainwasunderpressuretoleaveIrelandby1920.In1921,anagreementwassignedwherebyaseparateIrishFreeState(todaycalledtheIrishRepublic)wascreated.Thisdidnot,however,includethesixcountriesofNorthernIreland,whichremainpartofthe“UnitedKingdomofGreatBritainandNorthernIreland.”